Fiat Chrysler Trademarks "Barracuda"

The 1964-1974 Plymouth Barracuda has been out of production for more than 40 years now, but the name has been popping up in the rumor mill with great frequency over the last six years, and FiatChrysler only keeps fanning the flames. The latest Barracuda-related news comes from a trademark filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the name under “motor vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, their structural parts, trim and badges.”

Chrysler enthusiast site Allpar spotted this trademark news, which was filed on June 23rd, but is quick to point out that it doesn’t necessarily mean that FCA has any plans to apply the name to a future vehicle. Trademarks are updated all the time, and the site even speculates that it could be just to maintain licensing.

As for the rumors of a next-gen Barracuda, they started popping up about the same time as the Challenger’s arrival, and most recently as an SRT-badged replacement for the Dodge Challenger. Of course, that never happened and most likely won’t, especially with the SRT brand being folded back into Dodge.

Either way, only time will tell, but with the strong streak that FCA has been on recently, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a Chrysler Barracuda sports car hit the road in the near future.

Continue reading for the full story.

Why it matters

It is unclear what FCA’s intentions are with the Barracuda name, but the interesting aspect of this trademark filing is that it comes at the same time as other performance trademarks, giving credence that the name could be used on an upcoming sports car. The other trademarks include the “Trackhawk” name (expected to be used on a high-performance Jeep Grand Cherokee) and a new SRT Hellcat logo that combines the “SRT” letters with the current Hellcat emblem.